IMPORTANT public consultations over the closure of two community hospitals in Teignbridge have been postponed till the autumn, it emerged this week.

Health chiefs have backed down over their ‘hastily’ drawn up programme of tapping the public for their comments on the controversial shutdown of hospitals in Ashburton and Bovey Tracey.

The vox pop exercise was due to start on Monday and extend over three months, but the South Devon and Torbay Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) masterminding the exercise called it off so it had more time to ‘to work through the detail of the proposals.’

The delay has been welcomed by local MP Mel Stride and groups opposing the closures which are part of a £4 million rejig of health services across South Devon.

Avril Kerswell, chairman of the Bovey Tracey League of Friends, said this week: ‘I am rather pleased by the news.

The longer the CCG takes, the more chance we have to persuade them they are going in the wrong direction.’

Former Ashburton mayor Elaine Baker, an outspoken critic of the closures, said on Tuesday: ‘I think the CCG are totally unprepared. They have been far too hasty.’

She also attacked the proposal to switch the local area’s clinical hub to Totnes instead of previously arranged Newton Abbot.

She described the whole package as ‘a total mish-mash of changes.’

A CCG spokesman explained: ‘The CCG governing body has agreed to go to consultation on proposals to reconfigure community services subject to NHS England’s approval.

‘Following an initial meeting, NHS England and the CCG are now working through the detail of the proposals.

‘Only when this checking process is completed thoroughly can the timing of consultation be finalised. We would hope however that this work will be completed speedily. Clearly, the consultation will not start as originally proposed on May 13.’

Health chiefs’ plans, including the closure of hospitals in Paignton and Dartmouth, involve replacing bed-based hospital care with ‘health and wellbeing teams’ operating in the community. Some 60 hospital beds would be lost with the closures.

Mel Stride MP said the newly-formed regime would have locally-based community staff working alongside GPs, pharmacists and voluntary sector organisations to provide health and well-being services and community clinics.

He said: ‘I welcome the fact that the CCG is considering delaying its consultation until the autumn if it is not able to start this process immediately.

‘We need to make sure that people are consulted when they are around and not when many will be on holiday.’

He added: ‘I also welcome the fact that the CCG is looking closely at the metrics that it will be reviewing so that rurality, deprivation and age profiles will be key to future decisions.

‘I stressed to the CCG that the local community remains very concerned indeed about the future of Bovey Tracey and Ashburton and Buckfastleigh hospitals and that I will continue to press local concerns and very closely monitor developments.’